Front Cover: Symbolizing public policy, the California State Capitol in Sacramento, restoration/renovation by Welton Becket Associates.
UCLA Law is published at UCLAfor alumni, friends, and other members of The UCLASchool of Law community. Issued three limes a year. Offices at 405 Hilgard Avenue. Los Angeles 90024. "Postmaster: Send address ch,111ges to Alumni Office, School of Law, 405 Hilgard, Los Angeles 90024."
ike most of their classmates, they remember latenights in the library, taking a professor to lunch, and sweating out a long hour in contracts while thinking out loud the why behind a complex ruling. They remember that law school taught them how to analyze a tremendous amount of data and see it from both sides. Alumni of the UCLA School of Law who have gone on to careers where they help to make the laws and shape public policy say that it was their law school experience that really taughtthemhowto think.
Congressman Henry R. Waxman '64 was deeply involved in Democratic Party politics and in the civil rights and peace movements during his undergraduate days at UCLA, but recalls that he had no clear notion before he went to law school where those interests would lead him. "I wanted a legal education," he says. "I wasn't sure if I would practice law or go into government, but I felt that a legal education would help me to understand some of the issues and would give me a frame of reference of how to think about some of the questionsthatweask thecourtstodecide."
As it turned out, Waxman abandoned private practice after only three years with a small Beverly Hills firm when he was elected to the state assembly in 1968. His maiden effort in the political �rena was stunning; he won 63 percent of the vote m the Democratic primary against a 26-year veteran of the assembly, the widest vote margin ever against a Democratic incumbent legislator. Now serving hisfifth two-year term as congressman from the 24th district, Waxman says that his legal training has been useful in helping him foresee, whiledrafting legislation, what legal problems may
arise.
"I think like a lawyer," he says, "and I try to anticipateproblemsandtoavoidthem."
Although some of his views have changed with age and experience, Waxman says that his interest in government has been based since his student days "on the perspective that government and politics could be used as a tool for redressing the inequities of society and for moving toward social justice. I still see government as the central force to work in a positive way for true economic opportunity in our society. Without government, some of society's most vulnerable members would be cast aside. Without Medicare, for example, the elderly would not be able to purchase medical care, and without public education many young people wouldbedeprivedofthekeytoupwardmobility."
Waxman's legislative specialty has been health careissues.
"In publicoffice, and particularly in the legislative branch, there are so many issues that you have to resist spreading yourself too thin," Waxman says. "I felt that if I could specialize in an area as important as health and the environment, then I would have an opportunity to shape policy and my impactwouldbefargreaterthatjustanothervote."
Waxman takes great pride in some of the health legislation he shepherded through the California Legislature, where he headed the key Assembly Health Committee, andthrough Congress, where he serves as chairman of the House Commerce Subcommittee on Environment and Health. He is proudestofthe OrphanDrugAct.
Kathleen Neumeyer is a contributing editor to Los Angeles Magazine, a correspondent for the Economist of London, anda frequent contributor tothis magazine.
CongressmanHenryR. Waxman '64
"A constituent whose child suffered from Tourette's Syndrome brought the problem to my attention," Waxman says, "and the whole issue astounded me. It was an example of an inequity built into the free enterprise system. The hole in it was that it was not profitable for pharmaceutical companies to doresearchon rare disease."
Waxman's bill, which was signed in January, 1982, provided tax credits, tax deductions, and cashgrants to drug companies todevelop treatments for such unusual ailments as Watson's disease, the abnormalaccumulation of copper in internal organs; Tourette's Syndrome, a form of tic involving motor uncoordination; and ALS, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease. Fourteen months after the bill went into effect, Waxman determined through a series of hearings that 24 or 25 new drugs had been developed, thanks to his legislation, and a greatdealmore research was under way.
"That was verygratifying,"he smiles.
Congressman Howard Berman '65, Waxman's friend and political ally, says that going to the UCLA School of Law was "an automatic kind of decision" for him, because he wanted to keep up with contacts he had made during his UCLA undergraduate days and to continue living at home to save on costs.
Making a career in politics did not really occur to him until the year just after law school when he served as a fellow in the state legislature. Berman's original game plan had been to practice law, and he chose labor law as a specialty after "taking every labor law course in law school." After his legislative fellowship and a stint in VISTA, he practiced labor law for five years. During the next ten years in the state Legislature and for the past eighteen months in Congress, he says, "if I have a specialty at all, it is in labor relations-and much of that comes from Ben Aaron and Hal Horowitz at the UCLA law school.
CongressmanHowardBerman'65
"My interest in labor-management relations, in farm labor law, in employee collective bargaining, and in labor protection-much of that interest was sparkedat UCLA."
Some of Berman's most difficult decisions as a !awmaker have been in areas of highly contradictory mterests "where my instincts and feelings might favora contrary decision."
An example from his days in the Legislature is th� death penalty, whichhe opposed.
:ou get to that fundamental question: Are you a legislator whose opinion is based on certain values, or are you simply a barometer for your district? I decided to do what I thought was right, and my constituency could decide at the next election if they were willing to send me back. They, in their wisdom, decided to, but it is clear that most of them disagreed with me on that issue," Berman said.
"I don't know if what I learned in law school
impacted directly on that decision, or whether in that great debate, the role of a representative in a representative democracy was more of a political science question. What I got more from law school was the vivid understanding that certain fundamental rights and the liberties of minority groups in our system are such that the will of the majority is not always the final test. Where the majority would squelch freedom of worship or permit unreasonable search, theseare not the kind� of issues where you let the majority's feelings become the keytest.
"In the criminal law and the constitutional law courses I took, and just from the general philosophy of the law school, the protection of individual rights wasimpressedupon mevery strongly."
Congressman Jerry M. Patterson '66 and Berman agreed that one of the courses which had the most impact upon them was Professor Addison Mueller's first year contractscourse.
CongressmanJerryM.Patterson'66
"Professor Mueller had really perfected the art of hiding the ball," Patterson laughs. "He taught by the Socratic method, never really laying out what the law was, but making you come to it yourself. He was better than any professor I ever had at reallyforcingyoutothinkthroughtheissues."
Patterson was studying for a master's degree at the University of Southern California and working as an assistant administratorfor the city of Garden Grove when he decided to apply to law school. At 28, he was a few years older than his classmates, and had a wife and family to support, so they lived in the old married student housing quarters and he worked for a Methodist Church youth outreach program. He was thinking along the lines of going into business law, "but constitutional law just really clicked with me." After graduation Patterson concentrated on municipal law, serving as city attorney for two Orange County municipalities, then as city councilman and mayor
of Santa Ana before his election to Congress in 1974.
"The way they taught me to think at the UCLA law school opened a new horizon for me, a new door," he says. "They taught the black letter of the law to pass the bar, but they also taught a way to think, not just about what the law is, but what the law ought to be. That created an interest in me in being a policy maker, one who decides what the law oughttobe."
Patterson feels he tussles hardest with decisions where "it is an important decision, and a controversial one, and my own constituency is divided in terms of how they feel, and I'm not sure in my own mindwhat is right. The easiest ones are where you know what is right, and the two happen tobecoincidental."
Patterson feels that the most difficult issues facing him this year are in the area of foreign affairs, particularly Central America, and the
SenatorKennethMaddy '63
second most difficult set of problems involve "not so much balancing the budget but reducing the deficitand balancing the priorities of spending."
He says he still utilizes his law school lessons of '.'how to absorb a great deal of information, analyze It, organize it, and separate the wheat from the chaff, to put it into perspective and to focus on the mostimportantissues."
Patterson remains of counsel to the Santa Ana firm of Cohen, Stokke and Davis, but devotes only adayor two amonth to it.
He has fond memories of helping to organize a loosely knit law school group called the "Take a Professor to Lunch Bunch," which invited professors on a sporadic basis to go out to lunch in Westwood andshoot the breeze.
. "The purpose was to promote good relationships with professors, and then some of us just wanted bettergrades," Patterson laughed.
California State Senator Kenneth Maddy '63, a
fourth UCLA law school graduate in elective office, feels that lawmakers with legal educations have an easier time than do other politicians in making public policy decisions, because they have been trained to base their decisions on the law rather than onpublicsentiment.
"I think that any of us in the legislature would say that the most difficult issues are the major public policy issues like abortion, handgun controls and gay rights, because those are the ones which attractthemostpublicattention," Maddysays.
"It is far easier on a question like gay rights to base your decision on the constitutional principles and the rights of due process than to try to rely on what the Bible does or does not condone," Maddy says, adding that legislators whomade the biblical arguments on the floor of the Assembly did so "because they didn't have any otherargument. The gay rights issue was really a question of what the law stands for in California."
ChairwomanLouiseMcCarren '72
Maddy says that the "down side is that not everyone in the public is legally trained, and of course they don't all agree with you. But when I go out to campaign, I discuss in understandable terms what the issues are from the legal standpoint."
The Republican lawmaker studied agriculture at California State University, Fresno, and went on to law school at the suggestion of his father-in-law, who was an attorney. He went into the family practice in Fresno, and in the course of building up a clientele he was involved in community activities, which led eventually to running for public office.
Being a lawyer has not always been a political advantage, Maddy says, because in the rural area he represents lawyers are not highly regarded by all of his constituents. "I had one opponent run against me on the issue that I was a lawyer," Maddy says. "Some of my constituents hadn't even known it."
But Maddy believes that lawmakers who are
legally trained "have a greater sense of due process, and are better equipped for public policy making than those who are guided by the seat of their pants orby the way the wind blows."
He feels that all members of the judiciary committees should be lawyers, and he no longer serves on those committees because he believes too much time is wasted by lay members. "The lawyer members are able to cut through issues in much less time," Maddy says.
Louise Mccarren '72 feels that "the most critical thing that law school gives you is the ability to analyze what your decision is based on, why you are making the decision that you are making. That is what lawyers are trained to do."
McCarren is in the third year of a six-year term as chairwoman of the Vermont Public Service Board, a full-time post, and she is also president of the New England Conference of Public Utilities Commissioners. She has taken a high profile role in
CommissionerDennisR. Patrick '76
the increasingly fierce debate over national telecommunicationspolicy.
When she was in law school, McCarren says she hadn't the vaguest notion of what kind of law she would practice. She "fell into"her current specialty. She grew up in California and began practicing in Northern California after graduation, but moved to Vermont when her then-husband decided to move hiscardiologypracticethere.
"I said, 'Sure, why not move to Vermont,"' she recalls. She worked first in legal services as a public defender, and then for three years ran a regional center which provided New England lawyers with backup on energy issues. After representing the public in several telephone rate cases, she was appointed Vermont's top utility regulatorbythegovernor.
The quasi-judicial board she heads sets rates and policies for morethan a hundred electric, telephone, gas, water and cable television utilities operating
inthestate.
McCarren says in deciding issues such as what rate will be set for a small producer, she relies on her law school training of "critically analyzingwhy I made the decision I made. So many courses relate to what I am doing now-constitutional law, corporations, Dave Binder's advocacy course, everythinginthefirstyear."
McCarren, who also teaches a course on the legal and political environment of business at the University of Vermont, says she has also been working hard as president of the New England regional association "to get the six states to think together and to act together, to look collectively at the issues. That has been one of the most rewardingthingsthatI havedone."
She has also been very vocal about issues in utility divestiture, restructuring and repricing, as well as the access decisions of the Federal Communications Commission, and has appeared
CommissionerFranklinTom'67
before the FCC, where one of the policy makers is FCCCommissionerDennisRoy Patrick '76.
Patrick did not study communications law at UCLA. His intention was to pursue criminal law, probably with the district attorney's office. "But UCLA's very fine placement program exposed me to a number of law firms that impressed me," he recalls, "and I took a summer clerkship at Adams, Duque and Hazeltine." He stayed with the firm after graduation, concentrating onbusiness litigation and some antitrust work.
During his third year of law school, Patrick externed for Justice William Clark, who was then on the California Supreme Court. They stayed in touch, and when Clark was appointed Deputy Secretary of State at the beginning of the Reagan administration, Patrick accepted a White House post as associate director of presidential personnel. He was responsible for a number of independent regulatory agencies, including the Federal
Communications Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, the Securities Exchange Commission, theCivilAeronautics Board andothers.
"When vacancies occurred at the presidential appointment level, we would analyze the issues at the various agencies to determine what qualifications we ought to look for in candidates, then interview candidates, recruit candidates, and prepare a memorandum to the staff and to the President, frequently making a recommendation on the appointment," Patrick says.
He became interested in the issues confronting the FCC and was recess-appointed to the Commission on November 30, 1983, and confirmed by Congress on March30, 1984.
Patrick says that the legal skills needed in private practice vary considerably from those he has called upon at the White House and at the FCC. He feels that the broader law school philosophies of how to think, write and express
G o v er n or Georg e Deukmejian appointed him
Fr a nk li n Tom '67 was a partner at Parke r, Mi l l ik e n, Cla rk, O'Hara and Samue lian when
In W a sh in gton "because of the focus on broade r ssi ue s like negotiating tact ics."
? l i ni cal p rogra ms w e re particularly helpful to him
P atr ic k s ays that Professor David Binder's
"The comm ission is now dealing with the effects of the AT&T divestiture, the tariffs filed by A T&T a nd othe r commo n carriers, and the regulation of c om m on carrier services in light of divestiture and rap id tec hnolo gical changes," Patrick says. "This is � n e nor mou sly complex area, and the public policy is su es of how telephone services can continu e to be uni v ers ally available is clearly one of the most dif fic ult gen ericall y. It calls on precisely the kind of sk ills of thinking and analyzing that we have bee n talking about."
hims elf effectively have been useful in both occu patio ns.
California Corporations
Commissioner on March 15, 1983. He had started work at Parker, Milliken on the Monday after he graduated from law school, having clerked there the summer between his second and third year. His practice primarily involved corporate business securities matters, including mergers and acquisitions and financing work. He also served as assistant managing partner, devoting some of his time to administrative duties on top of client representation. "I enjoyed what I was doing and hadn't thought of the possibility of doing anything else," Tom says, but his partner Carl Samuelian was a close friend and su pp orter of Deukmejian and recommended Tom for the Cor porations Commissions post. "Being in corporate practice, I had spent a lot of time on the other side of the counter," Tom says. "This was not an opp ortunity lightly passed up, so
Chief Asst. Attorney General Andrea Ordin '65
POLI
CommissionerStephenD. Yslas '72
I made myself available and submitted my name, andwasappointedalittleoverayearago."
Tom says that at UCLA "we learned to balance complicated interests, and concentrated not so muchonlawsandrulesasonpoliciesofthelaw."
In many ways he feels that what he is doing now at the Corporations Commission "is closer to what I learnedin law schoolthanI have everbeen. In public policy considerations there is much more ofthat balancingof interests than there was in the paperpushingofprivatepractice."
Tom majored in accounting at UCLA and then earned an MBA in finance before going to law school.
"In constitutional law, I was a lonely island in a sea of Poli Sci majors, and I felt at a terrible disadvantage because constitutional law was very familiar to my classmates and quite unfamiliar to me. That was a rude awakening, but I got my revenge in corporations class second year. I
remember to this day one occasion when Professor Marsh was lecturing and a friend sitting next to me leaned over and whispered, 'What's a stock warrant?'"
Outside of his legal practice, Tom has devoted time to communityaffairs. "BeingChinese, I feelan obligation to do what I can to assist the ChineseAmericancommunity,"Tomsays.
He has used his legal expertise in volunteer efforts for the Chinese-American Citizens Alliance and in helping to establish a branch of the Los AngelesPublicLibraryinChinatown.
Andrea S. Ordin '65, chief assistant attorney general of California, says that her responsibilities lie more in thearea ofimplementing policy thanin shapingit.
"I don't want to overplay my ability to generate decisions," shesays. As chief assistant to John Van de Kamp, Ordin is responsible for overseeing environmental, consumer, antitrust and charitable
trustmatters forthe state.
For Ordin, the most trying and complex problems are in the area of toxic waste enforcement. The tough decisions are "compounded by a lack of adequate resources and a lack of adequate scientific knowledge about how to go about cleaning up toxic waste," she says.
"All of us in government face a generic problem of a lack of resources, lack of support staff, a lack of technical support. As a manager, I don't have the ability to give my lawyers the resources they need."
Ordin says more substantive concerns revolve around what tactics to use in terms of litigation. "The decision about whether we will pull another lawyer to more adequately staff one case can have areal effect onother projects."
Ordin, who was an aspiring actress before working her way through law school as a legal secretary, says that law school "opened my eyes to a whole variety of public policy issues that I had beenunaware ofpriorto lawschool."
She says that the discipline of legal education in "gathering facts, marshalling facts, is helpful across the board. It's a cliche, but law school teaches you a way of thinking, a way of coming to a conclusion which is a very useful technique, and hasbeenvery helpful to me.
"Much of my undergraduate career had led me to believe that there was a single right answer that with sufficient work one could come to. Law school teaches you that with a small adjustment in fact or in emphasis, you can be led to a different conclusion, that there is a flexibility about that process. That is useful in administration and in decision-making."
Ordin has come full circle back to the attorney general's office, where she began her career after law school. She worked under Van de Kamp when he was Los Angeles district attorney, and later she was named the third female United States attorney in history. In 1980, she was appointed chairman of the attorney general's advisory committee. When she left that post, she spent a year teaching at the law school.
Though it was an enjoyable year, Ordin says, "I really see myself as a public lawyer. That is what I havebeen."
Stephen D. Yslas '72, general counsel for the electronics division of Northrop Corporation, is also president of the Los Angeles Police Commission.
Yslas was appointed to the commission by Mayor Tom Bradley in April, 1980, during the
furor over the Eulia Love police shooting incident. He was elected president of the commission in November, 1982, and presided over the board when it entered into the consent decree which ended the American Civil Liberties Union's five-year long spying lawsuit against the Los Angeles police department.
Yslas is pleased with the guidelines the commission has formulated for police intelligence, which require the police to get the permission of two members of the police commission before enteringintoanundercover investigation.
"A paper trail will be created laying out the rationale," Yslas says. "It refocuses on the issue of terrorism, andisa good, workablekind ofsystem."
Yslas says "the whole issue of the chokehold was one that had to be decided in a very charged atmosphere, with competing interests to be served. A large segment of the public was very distressed, and the police felt that they needed the hold as an effective tooltobe usedintegraltoofficersafety."
The board decided that the holdwas substantially dangerous and could be used only when there was aproportionatedanger to theofficer.
Yslas looks back on his first year of law school as having had a great effect on the way he analyzesproblemstoday.
"I think that law school gives students a certain confidence that they can argue and create a sensible, supportable rationale for their decisions in involved and complex matters, a way to look dispassionately at controversialsubjects."
Yslas says that on the police commission, that ability to remain dispassionate in the face of emotionalityhasservedhimwell.
"It helps me in the way I do business as a lawyer, and it really helps me in the public policy arena," hesaid.
"I remember to this day being in Murray Schwartz's criminal law class when he, in a very polite but probing way, forced me to think out loud about Powell vs. Texas. He kept me on the grill for awholehour, buthe mademethink."
Yslas says he enjoys corporation law, which was his goal from the beginning, but has found public policy law exciting and has relished seeing "how my thoughts on law enforcement could operate converted intopolicy.
"I think that lawyers can get so stuck in the profession that sometimes they have a tendency to lose sight of the larger picture of society. One of the reasons that the commission is so great is that you get that whole different opportunity to view allkindsof differentpolicyissues." D
Michael Asimow: The Academic as Activist
by Ellen Klugman
ive him a raise or nominate him for President," declares one student in evaluating this professor at semester's end. Accolades don't come easily in law school, yet Michael Asimow seems to garner them like roses. In fact, students claim he falls somewhere between magician and miracle worker. How else could one explain Professor Asimow's ability to transform the subject of personal income tax from a nightmare of numbers to a clear, comprehensible, and even enjoyable course?
Whatever his secret, Asimow has been practicing it successfully at UCLA's School of Law for the last seventeen years. Besides income tax, he teaches administrative law, constitutional law and business planning. In recent years, he also has taught contract law to first-year students because "theytend to bemore fun."
Although named Professor of the Year several times throughout his career, Michael Asimow may be more aptly described as a man for all seasons: a man determined to leave a legacy within law whichextendsbeyondclassroomborders.
"When you reflect on it, the role of the professor at the University of California is strange," ponders the youthful-looking 44 year old as he tips back in his chair. Dressed in well-worn corduroy pants, he is clearly at home in this student-laden environment. "We're put here with very light teaching loads with nice salaries and benefits to do pretty much what we want academically. So the taxpayers are paying me to sit here. As a paid professor, I feel a responsibility to do something good for them. I really do feel that the responsibility entails trying to leave the place a little better than when I came in, through the fields in whichI have expertise."
It is this conviction that has led Asimow to act as a consultant to the Administrative Conference of the United States, an agency designed to improve government bureaucratic efficiency; to serve on the policy board of Taxation with Representation, a public interest law firm; and to currently chair California Common Cause, a public interest group committed tobettergovernment.
"In my research, I'd like to write books and articles which will result in positive social changes-that will lead courts and legislatures to find much better ways to deal with problems in improving the tax and regulatory systems. In my politics, I'd like to bring those changes about," he explains.
Asimow's involvement with UCLA extends beyond his years as a professor at its law school. Born in Los Angeles, he earned his bachelor's of science in business administration at UCLA in 1961. He says he went to law school to escape becoming an accountant.
He attended Boalt Hall at University of California, Berkeley. There he wrote and edited for the California Law Review. That experience tipped him off to the fact that he might want to pursue an academic career. Graduating first in his Class of 1964helpedbringthatcareerto fruition.
Upon graduating law school, Asimow returned to Los Angeles as an associate for Irell & Manella. He worked there for two years. Then, one day, he received a call from Boalt Hall inviting him to teach. Family concerns led him to explore similar opportunities at UCLA's law school instead.
Becoming a law professor at such a young age wasn't always easy. "Some of my students were older than I was," he laughs. "In a few cases, I had to work hard to earn their respect."
Dean Susan Westerberg Prager, who was among his students, recalls of his administrative law course: "He had great talents as a teacher. He was wonderfully enthusiastic about his subject matter and about being a law professor. Certainly he was regarded as one of the best teachers in the school, even then. I continue to hear anecdotes from studentswhosaythe same thing now."
Despite the magic that he seems to breed, there's little hocus pocus behind Michael Asimow's classroom success. He spends ten to twelve hours of research for every hour in the classroom when
Ellen Klugman '84 has written on law, consumer, and women's issues for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and otherperiodicals.
teaching subjects he is unfamiliar with. One of his favorite courses is the business planning seminar. The course focuses on creating solutions to defined businessproblemsinvolving small corporations.
"I like it because it's not really litigation," he explains enthusiastically."Everything in law school is litigation. Lawyer A says this...Judge B says that...Asues B.I'm tiredof that."
"Most lawyers," he continues earnestly, "sit in their office and try to negotiate, or dream up, constructive solutions to things. But law school gives students a completely different picture. Law students are often shocked to discover that hardly any problems are litigated. We get a very false picture in law school. That's why I like business planning so much. It's not focused at all on litigation."
Michael Asimow also sees tax as a field ripe �ith opportunities for creative problem solving. You have to like research and not mind little technicalities. You can't be scared by the numbers, even though you don't have to be a math wiz."
Asimow recommends taking a course in tax
whether you intend to specialize in it or not. "Anything that would help people cope with a bureaucracy which they can't avoid has got to be worth taking. The course would be valuable to almost any kind of law practice except, perhaps, criminal."
Asimow adds: "I think the difference between a good lawyer and a mediocre one is creativity. One often neglected skill is imagination. I wish law training focused more on imagination and less on tactics."
Professor Asimow feels that the Socratic method doesn't promote creativity. According to him, after the firstyear,law professors should get away from analysis of opinions and focus more on problem solving. As an example, he notes that in a course on administrative law, the approach would be to identify what institutions could prevent this kind of mess from arising, rather than having it end up at theSupremeCourt.
Having passed through the sixties at the UCLA School of Law, Asimow has a certain perspective on the changes he has witnessed. "I came to teaching in the late '60s and early '70s when there was very great concern about using law for social concerns and to fulfill individual responsibilities.I would say to a large extent that has ebbed for a variety of reasons. Law students are much more interested in their own careers and are more concerned with what will be of practical value to them.
"Students in the '80s are more serious and more interested in what it is that we have to teach. As professors, we now have to use up less time in struggling over changes in the institution, and in trying to respond to their demands,some of which wereimpulsiveand didn'tmakesense."
Asimow is quick to point out that many students continue to commit eagerly to civil rights and environmental issues. Asimow recently co-sponsored an educational forum on control of nuclear arms. While the idea originated with the faculty,it wasfairly well attended by students.
Michael Asimow considers himself an academic as well as an activist. Of the former, he explains: "Publishing is a law professor's dream and nightmare. The dream is that you can make an impact on a system for the better, to promote change. The nightmare is that maybe nobody out there is reading your work. It took me a long time to realize that you must be thework'spromoter,as well as its author.If you don't make sure the right peopleseethepiece,it may notgetseen.
"The thing you have to grasp about research," he
"I think the difference between a good lawyer and a mediocre one is creativity. One often neglected skill isimagination."
says, impassioned, "is how hard it is. The writing part is terribly hard. Legal writing has a long gestation period. And in the end, what if it's bad? What if people ridicule it? Many times professors are afraid to turn loose their research for fear of professionaldisapprovalof theirwork.
"When I do like it, it's because publishing looks like an opportunity to change something. Administrative law and tax both involve government. In the case of administrative law, it's how to make the process of government more responsible and efficient. In the case of tax law, it's who pays what and how can we improve the collection and tax distribution. In both fields, there is vast room for improvement. My articles tend to point out problems and suggest solutions. I prefer this to the purely theoretical work some of my colleagues pursue."
Professor Asimow's research credentials include twelve academic articles. Some of his more recent publications are "Property Divisions in Marital Dissolutions," (35 USC Tax Institute, 1983); "Delegated Legislation: United States and United Kingdom," 3 OxfordJournalofLegal Studies 253 (1983); "When the Curtain Falls: Separation of functions in Federal Administrative Agencies," 81 ColumbiaLawReview 759 (1981); and "Standing to ChallengeLenient Tax Rules: A Statutory Solution," 57 Taxes 483 (1979).
He has also authored AdvicetothePublicfrom FederalAdministrativeAgencies (Matthew Bender, 1973), and has collaborated on portions of a four volume treatise on Federal Taxation of Income, EstatesandGifts, with Bittker (Warren, Gorham & Lamont, 1983). His most current work is a chapter on marital dissolution tax problems in Valuation and Distribution of Marital Property, to be published by Matthew Bender. Much of what Michael Asimow writes, he tries to put into action. As chair of California Common Cause, Asimow sees that organization's biggest issue as election law reform. "California is in desperate need of public financing of elections. The amount of special interest money going to legislators in this state is
assuming the proportions of scandal."
Another area he is tackling as chair of Common Cause is legislative reapportionment. "We believe the present system in which the legislature reapportions itself after the census is a conflict of interest." Common Cause recommends, instead, that an independent commission take over the reapportionment process.
Under Asimow's direction, California Common Cause has begun to concentrate on tax issues. Professor Asimow says that California has the lowest taxes on the extraction of oil of any oil producing state. It also has the lowest taxes on wine and beer of any of the 50 states, with among the lowest of state taxes on cigarets and liquor. As chair of California Common Cause, he blames special interest campaign contributions for preventing higher taxation of these activities and purchases.
When asked how he arrived at such a prestigious post, Asimow shyly downplays his own skills and achievements in favor of fortune. "Like many things that happened to me, I sort of just backed into it. I got a call from a good friend on its board who was moving away and who knew of my expertise in issues not well represented by Common Cause at the time." He joined the board, served as vice chair, and then chaired California Common Cause.
Asimow's time commitment to Common Cause has forced him to resign from chairing the lawyer's group of Amnesty International, a group of twenty lawyers and law students working to free prisoners of conscience in foreign countries. Of the cases they took on, all of the prisoners were eventually released.
Tax law and divorce is another area about which Michael Asimow has strong sentiments. He says that there is a bill about to clear Congress which would simplify the tax structure regulating divorce. "Right now, the laws are horrendously complicated. Divorcing spouses have to spend a lot of money on unnecessary tax lawyers just to avoid disaster. The current system invites divorcing couples to make
"The amount of special interest money going to legislators in this state is assuming the proportions of scandal."
decisions they wouldn't make otherwise because it makes sense taxwise." Professor Asimow cites monthly payments of alimony rather than lump sum payments·as one example of a system which fails to support the independence and emotional well-beingof theindividualsitinvolves.
According to him, although current tax laws tend to favor monthly support, lump sum settlements are a better solution for society. "'Where's the check?' doesn't come up. Neither is one spouse's dependency dragged out to the detriment of both persons." In keeping with his commitment to influence areas within his expertise for the better, Asimow has commented on the pending legislation inCongressandis tracking its progress closely.
If pressed, however, Asimow will admit that he'd rather view government from the inside out than from the outside looking in. When the Democrats return to office, he'd love to go to Washington and serve in an administrative post, perhaps in environmental regulationorintax.
When asked to rate the tax policies of the Reagan administration, Asimow sombers some. "I think the deficit problem is a very grave crisis caused in part by excessively generous tax cuts in the first years of the Reagan administration. The trouble is government services are very hard to cut and we now have a terrible structural deficit which must be addressed. Otherwise, we'll be handing disaster to future generations." Asimow believes there will be more tax increases. In the course of making them, he hopes we can make our tax structure simplerandmoreequitable.
Asimow has great hopes for the BradleyGephardt legislation currently pending in Congress. That bill would do away with most tax deductions and would cut tax rates while keeping the progressive structure we presently have. He feels that eliminating deductions would simplify the present law and the need for tax specialists' services. The tax structure could also be manipulated to increase or decrease specific sources ofrevenue.
This professor of tax and administrative law also argues that the tax burden should be redistributed in such a way as to abolish vehicles for avoiding taxes, including many deductions and most tax shelters. He says the Bradley-Gephardt bill would distribute taxes among the rich, middle class, and the poor, much as it does now, but individuals within those classes might pay much moreormuchless.
Of his administrative involvements at the law school, Asimow feels the most important committee
"The presentsystem in which thelegislature reapportions itself afterthe censusis a conflict of interest."
he has served on is the faculty appointments committee. He says that the appointments committee asks him each year whether there are past students he would like to recommend. Where hefeelsone ofhis studentswouldbe an appropriate candidate for such a position, he forwards that person'snametothecommittee.
This year, Michael Asimow is chairing the faculty committee in charge of the law library. "The building is simply bursting at the seams," he remarks pointedly, flailing his arms. "We have an insoluble space problem right now in the library and in the classrooms. We hope that expansion of our space in the next few years will alleviate the problem." He notes somewhat proudly that this year, the library opened the stacks to the public, a first in the history of the UCLA School of Law. Library funding and other library policies are additionalareasofhiscommittee'sconcern.
Anyone who frequents Westwood can tell you what Michael Asimow does in his spare time. He can often be seen jogging up Westwood Boulevard early in the morning. On days that he doesn't jog, he plays tennis or cycles. He also plays piano and collects stamps, a hobby he shares with his children. And he reads spy stories-an appropriate outlet for a tax professor fascinated with the inner machinationsofgovernment.
He has recently remarried. He and his new wife, Bobbi, have combined their families and moved to anewhomeinBrentwood.
Looking at such a man of achievement, one wonders if there is anything he aspires to do that he has not yet done. "Sure," he grins, looking like a young boy, "if I could be anything in life I'd be a composer. I'd also want to be a syndicated columnist in law. Someone should tell the general population what they have at stake because of things happeningdailyin the courts, administrative agencies,andlegislatures."
Contained in these fantasies are the rather unique combination of the lyrical and the practical; the intense, and the flowing. Contained in these fantasies is a clue to what Michael Asimow is reallyallabout. D
Law's Olympian
When the Games of the XXIIIrd Olympiad come to Los Angeles on July 28 through August 12, the School of Law will be avidly supportingits ownfavorite Olympian, triple jumper Willie Banks '83.
Banks was a member of the 1980 U. S. Olympic team before he began his law studies at UCLA and during his undergraduate years was a UCLA track star. The qualifying competitionsfor thisyear's U. S. Olympic team occur in late June [after the publication date of this magazine), and again Banks is widely favored in the triple jump.
The reason for the admiration was clear when the effervescent Banks spoke last fall at the law school's All Alumni Day. Taking a ball of string in hand, he demonstrated-with some help from Dean Susan Prager as he unwound the string along theperimeter of a law classroom-just how far thetriple jump is.
As he oftendoes, Bankstold alumni on that day about his personal values-rooted in family, religion, and community-which have inspired his athleticsuccess and which also are the driving force for his career.
UCLA and its law school are fortunate to be so well represented.
Benjamin Aaron published "Future Trendsin Industrial Relations Law" in 23 IndustrialRelations52 (1984) and coedited the three-volume Proceedings ofthe10th InternationalCongress of the International Society for Labor Law and Social Security, Bureau of National Affairs, 1984.
Professor Aaron addressed the First Oxford-BNA Symposium on Comparative Industrial Relations, he spoke at the Second Asian Regional Congress onLaborLaw andSocial Security in Seoul,Korea, and he presented a paper atthe Southwestern Legal Foundation's 36th annual institute in Dallas. He presented a paper on fair representationat a Cornell University conferenceon that subject,and moderated a program on worker participation at a LaborLaw Groupconference in Park City, Utah, in addition to addressing and moderating conferences of the UCLA Institute of Industrial Relations.
Richard Abel presented a critical analysisof sociology of law in Dutchspeakingcountries at the annual meetingof the Research Committee on Sociologyof Law in Antwerp, Belgium; a paper on legal aid in advancedcapitalistsocieties at the Conference on CriticalLegal Studies in Washington, D. C.; a paper on lawyers in England and Walesat the Institute of Advanced LegalStudies, London; a paper entitled "ShouldTort Law Protect Property Against Accidental Loss?" at the ColstonResearch Symposium in Bristol, England; and a paper on "Custom, Rule,Administration" atthe First International Seminar on African Customary Law at the Institute of Judicial Studies,Lisbon. He chaired several panels at the annual meeting of the Law and Society Association in Boston.
Professor Abel, during a Spring sab?alical, worked on theories of lawyers m society, with the support of a grant from theNational Science Foundation.
�illiam Alford completed a major article entitled "Of Arsenic and Old �aw�: Looking Anew atCriminal Justice m Late ImperialChina" which will be published in the California Law Reviewand a shorterpiece entitled
"Zhu Qiwu andthe Developmentof Criminal Law inthe People's Republic of China" whichwill appear in the UCLAPacificBasin LawJournal.
Under auspices of the AsiaSociety, Professor Alford organized a panelof distinguishedscholars,public officials, practicing lawyers and business persons which examinedthe state of U.S.China relations onthe fifth anniversary of full diplomatic exchange. He also spoke to theinternational lawsection of the Los Angeles County Bar on Chinese legal tradition, and was interviewed by the Spanish International Network on Nicaraguan efforts tosue the U. S.
He was namedto the executive committee of the Committee onLegal Education Exchangewith Chinaand waschosento review applicationsfor advancedstudy inChina by the Committee on Scholarly Communication with the People's Republic ofChina.
Reginald Alleyne has been electeda member of the board of governorsof the National Academy of Arbitrators. He presented apaper on "The Legality of Interest Arbitration in California" at a labor relationsprogram of thelabor and employmentlaw section of the State Bar of California.
Professor Alleyne was a visiting scholar at the Texas A & M University College of Business Administration. He lecturedonpublicemployeestrikelaw and equal employment opportunity legislation.
Michael Asimow recently completed several papers on the tax consequences of marital property settlements and lectured on that subject at the USC Tax Institute andthe UCLA-CEB Estate Planning Conference. Professor Asimow published "Delegated Legislation: UnitedStates and United Kingdom" in the OxfordJournal of LegalStudies. He is working on papers concerningrulemakingin federal administrativeagencies and on tax problems of compensation for personal services.
He chairs California Common Cause, a public interest lobby with more than 40,000 members. This summer hewill visit at the University of Michigan Law School.
David Binder published with Paul Bergman FactInvestigation From HypothesistoProof(1984)
Professor Binderserved on the Association ofAmerican Law Schools standing committeeonclinical education, and was aninstructorat the AALSnationalconference on clinical education.
Grace Blumberggave a keynote presentation andparticipatedin the marital propertyprogramat the Fifteenth Annual Womenand the Law Conference.
Recent publicationsinclude "Legal Issues in NonsurgicalHuman Ovum Transfer," 251Journalofthe American MedicalAssociation1178 (1984). and "Marital PropertyTreatment of Intangible Assets" in amultivolume treatiseonmaritalproperty (Matthew Bender,1984).
Professor Blumberg currently is working on acommunityproperty casebook to bepublishedby Little, Brown.
Richard Delgadopublishedan article on recent trends incivil rights scholarship in PennsylvaniaLawReviewand coauthored articlesonsocialregulation of science in UCLALawReviewand onthe use of expertmoralists in court in Hastings CenterReport.
His work inprogressincludes an article ongovernmentallycreated elites to be publishedin UCLA Law Review, an articleon religious deprogramming tobe published in Vanderbilt LawReview, and an article on the rhetoric of the armsrace.
Professor Delgado gave addresses or faculty workshopsat the University of PennsylvaniaLawSchool,University of MichiganLawSchool,and Hutchins Center for theStudyof Democratic Institutions.
Joshua Dressler hascompleteda manuscript to bepublished this Fall, "New ThoughtsAbout Criminal Law Justifications: Acritique of Fletcher's Rethinking." VisitingProfessor Dressler wasinvitedto read it at a criminal theoryworkshopin Germany this summer. Otherwriting in progress is on self defense,death by injection, and accessorial liability.
Charles Firestone was keynote speaker at the HonoluluCommunity Media Council's forum on "The Electronic Revolution: Its Impacton the News Media, Our Society and the Individual." He alsospokeatgatheringssponsored by theCaliforniaChicano News
Media Association, the Pat Brown Institute, the National Broadcast Associationfor Community Affairs, Lawand Business, Inc., the U.S. Asia Institute, the League of California Cities,and the Telecommunications Researchand Action Center.
Firestone prepared an amicuscuriae brief forCongressmanTimWirthfor filingin the FirstCircuitontheconstitutionality of imposing access requirements on cable television operators. He filed an amicusbriefin the U. S. Supreme Court on the constitutionalityof afederal ban on editorializingby public broadcasters, and represented the League of Women Votersof California in the appeal of an FCCdecision allowing broadcastersponsored candidate debates to be exempt from "equal opportunity" requirements.
Terry Friedman is the editor of Landlord-TenantLitigation, published byThe Rutter Group. Visiting Lecturer Friedman conducted four continuing legal education seminars on landlordtenant law throughout California, sponsored by bar associationsof Los AngelesCounty,Orange County, San Diego County and San Francisco.
Carole Goldberg-Ambrose will become Associate Dean of the School of Law in July, 1984. She is currently working on an article on problems of procedural due process posed when the United States attempts to represent the rights of American Indians in litigation.
Robert Goldstein testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee'sSubcommittee on the Constitution with respectto a balanced budget constitutional amendment and legislation concerning constitutional convention procedures. He addressed a conference sponsored by the American Jewish Congress and other organizations on the same subject.
His current research concerns the legal status of the fetus.
Edgar Jones is writing an article entitled "The Tort of Polygraphing" and a piece concerned with the nature and import of decisional thinking by triers of fact. Hecontinues work on a bookof essays about labor disputesto bepublishedbyWest.
ProfessorJonesis alsoinvolvedin production of a television program for the Public Broadcasting System on alternative dispute resolution.
Kenneth L. Karst gave the Brainerd Currie Lecture at Duke University
School of Law, entitled "Woman's Constitution." An article version of the lecture willappearin the June, 1984, DukeLawJournal.
Professor Karst is continuing to work as associateeditor of the Encyclopedia oftheAmerican Constitution.
KennethN. Klee served as consultant to the U.S. Departmentof Justice regardingbankruptcylaw revision. VisitingLecturer Klee appeared on severalpanels beforethe American Law Institute/American Bar Association on thesubjectofbankruptcy, insolvency,andreorganizationlaw. He also served as a member of the AdvocacyInstitute,deliveringlectures on corporate reorganization.
He was elected secretary-treasurer of the FinancialLawyers Association of SouthernCaliforniaand served as a member of the executive committee of the Commercial Law and Bankruptcy Section of the Los Angeles County Bar.
William Kleincompleted a teachers' manual for the Bittker, Stone, and Klein casebook, Federal Income Taxation (sixth edition,1984).
He spoke on the criteria for good corporate laws at a symposium on corporate responsibility which was part of the Universityof California, Davis 75thanniversarycelebration. He published an article entitled "The PutUp-Or-Shut-UpStrategyin Business Negotiations," 17 UCDavisLaw Review341 (1983), and a tribute to Boris Bittker in 93 YaleLawJournal 203 (1983).
Professor Klein continues to serve on the governingcommittee of Continuing Education of the Bar.
Christine A. Littleton served on the steering committee for the 15th National Conference on Women and the Law in Los Angeles, and also led workshops at the conference on "Developinga Feminist Jurisprudence" and "Law in aDifferent Voice."
Sheaddressedthe Focus on EEO Conferenceheldby the Institute for IndustrialRelationson the topic of "Recent Developments in State and Federal Law Pertaining to Sexual Harassmentinthe Workplace."
Littleton recentlyjoined the advisory board of ProjectARISE, a project of the California EquityCouncil which will review implementingregulations under new statelegislation prohibiting sex discriminationin education. She has also participated in establishing a feminist legal scholars reading group. Her review of Emily Abel's Terminal
Degreeswill appearin 7 Harvard Women'sLawJournal (1984), and a review of Kelly Weisberg's Women and the Lawis in progress for the AmericanBarFoundationResearchJournal. She is currently engaged in research on feminist jurisprudence.
Robert E. Lutz, visiting from the Southwestern law faculty, was appointed editor-in-chief of TheInternationalLawyerand was elected a member of the American Law Institute, appointed to the council of the American Bar Association section of international law and practice, and named chairman of the California Bar's committee on the environment.
Visiting Professor Lutz published articles on environmental and international law in journals including the Southwestern UniversityLawReview, China Business Review, UCLA Journal ofEnvironmentalLawandPolicy, and American Society ofInternational Law Proceedings.
He moderated a panel on international human rightsin domestic courts at Southwestern Law School, and directed the first ABA-accredited Summer Law Program in the People's Republic of China.
He participated in legislative hearings on the California Environmental Quality Act. His article on "Interstate Environmental Law" was selected "one of the ten best articles of 1983" and will be republished in Land Useand EnvironmentalLawReview (1984).
Henry W. McGee, Jr., published "Gentrification and the Law: Combatting Urban Displacement" in the Washington University JournalofUrbanand ContemporaryLaw.
This summer, Professor McGee will teach immigration law in Mexico City at the UniversityofSan Diego's Institute on International and Comparative Law.
David Mellinkoff is writing a new kind of law dictionary, ADictionaryof American Legal Usage. The background for this unusual project is described in Professor Mellinkoff's UCLA Faculty Research Lecture, "The Myth of Precision and the Law Dictionary," 31 UCLA LawReview423 (December, 1983).
Professor Mellinkoff spoke on "Legal Writing in Plain English" at a symposium marking the 75th anniversary of the Universityof California, Davis and on "SimplifyingLegal Writing" at a meeting honoring appellate justices of the second district, California District
Courtof Appeal. He will speak at the annual meeting of the American Bar Association in Chicagoon August 3 on "Why Lawyers Writein the Peculiar Way They Do."
Carrie Menkel-Meadow published "Toward Another View of Legal Negotiation: TheStructure of ProblemSolving" in 31 UCLA Law Review 754 (1984); the article was awarded first prize by the Center for Public Resources in New York for legal scholarship on alternative dispute resolution. Other articles published recently are "Legal Negotiation: AStudy ofStrategiesinSearch of a Theory" 1983 AmericanBar Foundation ResearchJournal No. 4; and "Legal Aid in the United States: Professionalization and PoliticizationofLegalServices in the 1980s," Osgoode HallLawJournal {1984).
Professor Menkel-Meadow was elected to the board of trustees of the Law andSociety Association and to theexecutive committee of the Association of American LawSchools section on clinicaleducation.
She developed and taught a course for the American Bar Association in legalnegotiation for practicing attorneysinLos Angeles, New York and Toronto,and a trainingprogram for lawteachers on teaching mediation which was sponsored by the Center for Law and Human Values.She also lecturedor gave papers at the Women and theLaw Conference in Los Angeles, theClinical Teachers Conference at Duke University, the Law andSociety annual meeting in Boston, and the American Bar Association lawyering skillsprogram in Alabama and North Carolina.
Menkel-Meadow's current work includes new courses and writing on alternative dispute resolution, and an article, "Portia in a Different Voice? Speculationson a Women's Lawyering Process."
Stephen R. Munzer published "Intuition andSecurity in Moral Philosophy," 82 MichiganLawReview 740 (1984). He gave a lecture on "Property and the Body" to the philosophy department of the University ofCalifornia, Riverside. He presented a paper entitled "RealisticLimits on Realist Interpretation" at an interpretation symposium at the University of Southern California.
Melville B. Nimmer is the author of a new work entitled Nimmer onFreedom ofSpeech, a treatise on the theory of theFirst Amendment. It will be pub-
lished in June, 1984.
ProfessorNimmeris currently working on a new edition of his casebook on entertainment law, and he is editing [together with Professor Alan Latman of New York University) a new work on world copyright law. He delivered a two-day lecture seminar in Los Angelesand New York on copyright law for practicing lawyers underthe auspices ofLawLecturesInstitute.
Patrick Pattersontestified beforethe U.S. Judicial Conference Advisory Committee on theFederal Rules of Civil Procedure regarding proposed amendments to the rules.
At the request of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Patterson successfully argued the case of Brooksv. Central BankofBirminghambefore the U.S. Court of Appeals for the EleventhCircuit.Theappellatecourt held that a federal district court in Alabama had abused its discretion in deciding that court appointmentof counsel for plaintiffs in civil rights cases constituted "involuntary servitude" of lawyers in violation of the Thirteenth Amendment.
SusanWesterberg Prager deliveredthe Ben J.AltheimerLecture at the University of Arkansas at Little RockSchool of Law on "The Revolution in Marital Property Law: Increasing Emphasis on Marriage as a Partnership."
Dean Prager was a panelist at the national conference of the American Bar Association's section of legal education and admissions to the bar in Sacramento.
She also discussed trends in community propertybefore the UCLA Affiliates and atLoma Linda University, and participated on a panelof deans at the annual meeting of the Association ofAmerican LawSchools. She delivered a law graduation addressat ArizonaState University.
Gary T. Schwartz is the author of "New Products, Old Products, Evolving Law, Retroactive Law," 58 New York UniversityLaw Review 796 (1983).
He was a speaker at faculty workshops ofthe University of Michigan LawSchool, Boston University Law School, andStanford LawSchool, and at a conference onoccupational injury at the University of Rochester.
Steven Shiffrinhas returned from a year ofteaching at Boston University. ProfessorShiffrinhas recently published an article entitled "Liberalism,
Radicalism, andLegalScholarship" in the UCLA LawReviewand another entitled "The First Amendment and Economic Regulation: Away from a General Theory ofthe First Amendment" in the Northwestern University LawReview. Hisreviewof Mark Yudofs When GovernmentSpeaks appears in the HarvardLaw Review.
He will beteachingat the University of Michigan LawSchool in Fall, 1984, returning to UCLAnextSpring.
Stanley Siegelis the recipient of the UCLA DistinguishedTeaching Award, whichrecognizesoutstanding teaching throughout the University.
He will teach acourse on comparativecorporationlaw at Kings College, University ofLondon,this summer under theauspicesof the Institute on International & Comparative Law of the UniversityofSan Diego.
ProfessorSiegelcontinuesas a member of the facultyof the Academy of American andInternationalLaw of theSouthwesternLegal Foundation, and wasappointeda member of the advisorycommitteeto theCalifornia CommissionerofCorporations.
His text, Accounting andFinancial Disclosure:A Guide toBasic Concepts, was publishedby West.Siegel is writing a text on BusinessPlanningto be published byLittle, Brown.
Karla Simon was co-chair of a conference on corporatetax reform. Visiting ProfessorSimonis writing an article on entity taxationand teaching materials onpartnershiptaxation.
Phillip R. Trimblepublished "Foreign Policy Frustrated" in the Columbia LawReviewand a review essay on "LegalScholarshipand the International Labor Organizations" in Comparative LaborLaw.
He will be lecturingthissummer at law faculties inSriLanka, Bangladesh, and Thailand.
William D. Warren, in collaboration with others, has published California CasesonSecurity Transactions in Land, issued byWest Publishing Company.
ProfessorWarrenspoke on "EquitableSubordinationinLending Transactions" at the BankCounselSeminar in Monterey and on "Trends in Commercial Law Curriculum" at the Commercial Law Workshopof the Association of AmericanLawSchools in Madison, Wisconsin.
Eminent Jurists Hear Competition Of Moot Court Team
Adistinguishedpanel ofjurists, Judge Frank Coffin of the First Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge Abner Mikva of the D. C. CircuitCourtof Appeals and JusticeJoseph Grodin of the California Supreme Court, heard this year's Roscoe Pound competition on April 27 in the UCLA Moot Court Honors Program.
The four law students arguing in the Roscoe Pound finals as the result of a year's competitionamong 130 of their classmates were Valerie Ackerman, Sally Helppie, Susan Keller and Regina Liudzius.
Helppie and Ackerman emerged as bestadvocates in the oral arguments. With Keller, who had the bestbrief, theywill be themembers of UCLA's national Moot Courtteam nextyear.
In the two semestersof Moot Court competitioneachyear at UCLA, more than 250 attorneysand judgesinthe SouthernCaliforniaarea judge the work of competingstudents.
Each semester, thereis a different problem on which students writebriefs and make oral arguments. The top 10 percentofstudentsin the MootCourt HonorsProgramare designated asdistinguished advocates, and the top four students competein the final round, the Roscoe Pound tournament.
Students in chargeof the program this past year were Connie Brockelman, chief justice; David Gindler, advocacy chair; and Stacie Brown, administrative chair.
William Warren Is Given Rutter Honor
The 1983-84 William A. Rutter Award for Excellencein Teaching was pre-
sented to ProfessorWilliam Warren in a ceremony at thelaw school on March 14.
The annual award was established by Rutter at UCLA and other law schools to recognize superb classroom teaching. Warren was also voted "Professor of the Year" by the law school's Class of '84, an honor which he has received on five separate occasions since beginning his teaching career at UCLA in 1959
Judge Billy Mills
Is Alumnus of Year
Judge Billy G. Mills '54 of the Los AngelesSuperiorCourt has been selected unanimously as Alumnus of theYear for 1984by the board of directorsof the UCLA Law Alumni Association.
A formal presentation will be made by Lourdes Baird '76, alumni president, whenlaw alumni, their families, and friendsgather on the law school patio September8 for the fourth annual All Alumni Day.
Judge Mills issupervising judge of thefamilylaw section of the Los Angeles SuperiorCourt. He has been honored previously as "Judge of the Year" by the familylaw committee of theBeverly Hills Bar Association.
Mills was a member of the Los AngelesCity Councilpriorto his judicial career.
In its annual Alumnus of the Year award, the UCLA LawAlumniAssociation recognizesalumni who havedistinguished themselvesby community and professional service.
Judge Mills was president of the law alumniin 1981-82, has served two years as a memberof the UCLA FoundationBoardof Trustees, and is amember of The Founders at the law school.
Law Faculty Gains Robert Goldstein, Christine Littleton
Acting Professors Robert D. Goldstein andChristineA. Littleton began appointments on the School of Law faculty in the1983-84 academic year.
Acting Professor Goldstein, a graduate of the Harvard Clinical Psychology & Public Practice Program and of the Harvard Law School, teaches courses in civil rights legislation, law and mental health, and criminal procedure.
Before joining the UCLA faculty, he engaged in the general practiceof law with the firm of Foley, Hoag & Eliot for two years in Boston and for three years in itsWashington, D. C., branch office which he helpedstart. His workthere focused primarily on litigation, including employment discrimination and civil rights matters.
Acting Professor Littleton teaches courses on womenand the law and on contracts.Amongher research interests is the field of feminist jurisprudence.
A graduate of Pennsylvania State University and Harvard Law School, she has written in the Harvard Law Review on sexual equality. She served recently on the steering committee of the 15th National Conference on Women and the Law.
Calendar of Events
Saturday, July 7,1984-Classof '54 Reunion, Chasen's Restaurant, 9039 Beverly Blvd.
Monday, July 16, 1984-Westside Alumni Reception,TampicoTilly's, 1025 WilshireBlvd., Santa Monica, 5:30-7:30 p.m.
August 2-9,1984-Annual Meeting of theAmericanBar Association in Chicago. Monday, August6, UCLA Reception, Suite ofChaleff & English, Continental Hotel, 5-7 p.m.
Saturday, September 8, 1984FourthAnnual UCLA LawSchool All Alumni DayandBarbecueat the School of Law; presentation of Alumnus of YearAward.
Saturday, September 15, 1984Class of '74 Reunion, UCLA Faculty Center, 5:30 p.m.
September21-25, 1984-State Bar AssociationConvention in Monterey; Sunday, September 23, reception hosted by the UCLALaw Alumni Association, 5-7 p.m.; Professor John Bauman, speaker.
Sunday, October 7, 1984-Class of '79 Reunion, UCLASunsetCanyon RecreationCenter, 1-8 p.m.
Sunday, October 21, 1984-Law
SchoolAdmissionsProgram: alumni andtheir families will hear Assistant Dean for Admissions Michael Rappaportexplain how to prepare for careersin law.
Late Fall, 1984-Class of '59 Reunion.
For further information regarding class reunions and alumni events, please call Paula Jensik at the Law Alumni Office, (213) 825-2899.
Dallas L. Atkins Directs Placement
Dallas Leigh Atkins was appointedin Februaryas directorof the Officeof Career Planning at the School of Law.
Theoffice is now implementing improvements that will aidprospective employers in their recruitment programs and will provide students better career planning andplacement services.
Atkins, a member of the California bar, is a 1970 graduateof Bryn Mawr Collegeand she received her J. D. in 1975 from Villanova University School of Law.
She has served as an attorney with California Indian Legal Services and directed a legal aid program in Nevada County, California, as well as having beenin private practice.
Classnotes
The 1950s
Clarence Cook '52 has recently completed law courses at the East China Institute of Politicsand Law in Shanghai andnotes he has a degree he can't even read.
Judge Dorothy W. Nelson '53 of the Ninth U.S. CircuitCourt of Appeals was presented the Norma Zarky Memorial Award, named for a past president of the Beverly Hills Bar Association.JudgeNelson, formerly the dean of the USC law school, served as co-chair of the National Conference on Legal Education and the Profession held in Sacramento in April.
Carl Boronkay '54 was named general manager of the Metropolitan Water District, a Southern California sixcounty water agency. He became generalcounselin1980 and previously served nearly 20 years as an assistant California attorney general.
Byron K. McMillan '57, after serving as a judge for over 25 years, has retired from the Orange County Superior Court to enterprivatelaw practice with Horton, Barbaro & Reilly in Santa Ana.
Fred L. Leydorf '58 and Irving M. Grant '55havebecome members of the firm of Hufstedler, Miller, Carlson & Beardsley in Los Angeles.
Edward P. George '59 of Allen, Wilson & George, Long Beach, has been reappointed by the State Bar Board of Governors to a secondterm as the presiding referee and chair of the 540 memberState BarCourt. The State Bar Court is the disciplinary arm of the California Supreme Court in all lawyer discipline matters.
Martin C. Pachter '59 of Pachter, Gold & Schaffer has been installed as the chairperson of thefamily law section of the Los Angeles County Bar Association. He has been on the section's executive committee for the past eleven years.
The 1960s
Howard S. Klein '61 has opened his offices in Beverly Hills in association with Francis Schwartz.
Judge Everett E. Ricks '62 of the Los Angeles Superior Court has been named trial judge of the year by the Los Angeles Brotherhood Crusade. He has also been cited as "Man of the Year" by the Compton Police Officers Association andthe National Council of Negro Women. He currently chairs the Los Angeles Delinquency and Crime Commission and is a member of the State Advisory Group on Juvenile and Delinquency Prevention.
Jonathan M. Purver '64, a San Francisco attorney who specializes in criminal defense andappellate practice, presently representsclients in two death sentence appeals before theCalifornia Supreme Court. He will address the criminal law section of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America at its annual meeting in Seattle in July. The topic of his talkis "Appeal: Fighting the Uphill Battle."
Irving H. Greines '66, Martin Stein '65, Kent L. Richland '71, and Alan G. Martin, all formerly with the firm of Horvitz & Greines, have formed the new partnership of Greines, Martin, Stein & Richland in Beverly Hills.
Susan Liebeler '66 has been appointed by President Reaganand confirmed by the Senate as a commissioner of the International Trade Commission. Her term continues through 1988. The U.S. International Trade Commission is an independent, bipartisan, quasi-judicial agency with broad powers to investigate all factors relating to the effect of U.S. foreign trade on domestic production, employment, and consumption. Liebeler is a professor at Loyola Law School.
Kenneth A. Wood '66 has publishedthe book, The Horse Syndication Manual. He has written several books on the subject of equine law and taxes.
John F. Lagle '67 has opened an office in LosAngeles emphasizing corporate, partnership, real estate and securities Jaw.
Leonard D. Venger '67, a partner at Buchalter, Nemer, Fields, Chrystie & Younger, has become the firm's managing partner.
The 1970s
Shunji Asari '71 has been elected to the boardof governors of the Japanese AmericanBarAssociation.
Leland Alan Stark '72 is serving as editor of the forthcoming book Howto LiveandDie with California Probate2ndEdition, a project of the Beverly Hills Bar Association, explaining wills, trustsand estate planning in layman's language.
Roger Boren '73 was appointed to the Newhall Municipal Court by Governor Deukmejian. Boren was the deputy state attorney general who served as co-counselin theprosecutionof AngeloBuonoin the Hillside Strangler case.
George R. Mccambridge '73 has formed the new firm of McCambridge & Deixler with Bert H. Deixler. The Century City based firm will concentrate in the areas of banking, corporate andregulatory matters, and civil and criminallitigation.
Stephen S. Hamilton '74 has recently joined the Santa Fe firm of Montgomery & Andrews. He was formerly an assistant attorney general for the state ofNew Mexico.
Barbara A. Hindin '74, attorneywith ARCO MetalsCompany in Rolling Meadows, Illinois, has recently published an article on the Environmental Protection Agency policy in Superfund andhazardous waste matters.
Judy O'Brien '74 and Brad O'Brien '74 have both become members of Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati in Palo Alto. Judy is practicing in the corporate area while Brad continues to concentrate in real estate. They are parents of Connor Galen O'Brien, who is oneyear old.
George C. Salmas '74 has moved his
offices from Redondo Beach to Century City. He is a sole practitioner and will continue to specialize in corporations, real estate, and securities.
John C. Wallace '74 is in privatepractice in Winters, California, and isalso the cityattorneyof Winters.
Gary A. Clark '75 and James R. Brueggemann '75, formerly partners in Fulwider, Patton, Rieber, Lee & Utecht, have formed a new firm, Pretty, Schroeder, Brueggemann & Clark. Anotherpartnerin the new firm is Laurence H. Pretty, who teaches patent law at the UCLA School of Law. The new firm, with offices inLos Angeles, specializes in patents, trademarks, unfaircompetition, copyrights, and related litigation.
M. Douglas Close '75 has recently joined ExecutiveLife Insurance Company in Beverly Hills as assistant general counsel.
Robert D. Cunningham '75 has been promoted tothe position of vice president and general counsel for Buena Vista Distribution Co., Inc., a subsidiary of Walt Disney Productions. He has served as counsel for the motion picture distribution company since 1978.
Scott Putnam '75 has been appointed general counsel for Transpacific DevelopmentCompany, a realestate developmentfirm having offices inLos Angeles, San Francisco and Honolulu, and specializing inoffice building development.
David Simon '75is currently serving as vice presidentof government relations for the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee. He has been working full time for several yearsto help stage the 1984 Olympic games.
Stewart A. Baker '76 has becomea memberof the Washington, D.C., firm of Steptoe & Johnson.
Irene Maharam Boyd '76 has become a member of Wyman, Bautzer, Rothman, Kuchel & SilbertinLos Angeles. She writes that she is also the proud mother of a beautifulbaby girl.
Clifford H. Brown '76 is a partnerat Ervin, Cohen & Jessup in Beverly Hills. He is representing all non-union employees in theContinentalAirlines bankruptcy casein Houston.
William D. Claster '76 has become a partner with thefirm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher inthe Newport Beach office.
Morris S. Getzels '76 has become a partner in the lawfirm of Malat, Lans & Malat, practicinggeneral civil litigation, with emphasison real estate and bankruptcy, andrepresenting architects, generalcontractors and developers.
Michael A. Hood '76 has recently becomeapartnerin the Orange County office of Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker.
Ronald N. Ito '76 was installed as the new president ofthe Japanese American Bar Association.He has been a deputy state attorney general for the business and taxation section since 1980; earlier, hewasin the criminal law section.
James Victor Kosnett '76 has opened law offices inTarzana.His practice emphasizescorporateand tax law.
Marguerite S. Rosenfeld '76 has become a partner at the law firm of Parker, Milliken, Clark, O'Hara & Samuelian in LosAngeles. She practices in the areas ofbusiness, corporate and securities law.
John P. Simon '76hasjoined the firm of McDermott, Will & Emery in Chicago, specializingin tax andalso involved in problems related to the commodity industry.
Esther Valadez '76 was installed on the board of trustees for the Mexican American Bar Association.
Gustavo Barcena '77 is president-elect of the Mexican American Bar Association. Armando Duron '79 was elected vice president and James H. Aguirre '78 is the new treasurer.
Alan G. Benjamin '77 has become a member of the firm of Morrison and Foerster.He continues to practice generalbusinesslaw in the firm's Los Angeles office.
Audrey B. Collins '77 has been installed as presidentof the 550member Los AngelesCounty Association of Deputy District Attorneys.
Elisabeth Eisner '77 has become a partner in the lawfirm of Gray, Cary, Ames & Frye in San Diego. She spe-
cializes in computerrelated technology, and tax-exempt note and bond financing law.
Ron Hillberg '77 is serving as president of the Turlock Chamber of Commerce for 1983-1984. He is also a part time lecturer in business law at CalState Stanislaus. He isa partner in the firm of Griffith, Masuda & Hillberg.
Thomas A. Kirschbaum '77 and Mario F. Gonzalez '77 have become partners in the Beverly Hills firm of Ervin, Cohen & Jessup.
Vince O'Neill '77 has been appointed chief deputy of the Ventura County District Attorney's office.
Nancy R. Alpert '78 has left her position with the New Yorkmid-townfirm of Paul, Rifkind, Wharton & Granison and has becc;me staff counselfor Reliance Group Holdings, Inc in New York.
James E. Blancarte '78, immediate past president of the Mexican American Bar Association, was recently installed fora three year term as a memberof the association's board of trustees.
Janice Celotti '78, Bill Caplan '78 and Michael T. Hornak'78 have become partners in the Costa Mesa firm of Rutan & Tucker.
Carol A. Chase '78 has become an Assistant United States Attorney in the criminal divisionof the U.S. Attorney's office in Los Angeles.
Boyd D. Hudson '78 is a partner in the law firm of Martin, Davis & Deacon in Los Angeles, specializing in partnership taxation, oiland gas taxation, and tax defense litigation. The firm is a split-off of the corporate and tax departmentsof Meserve, Mumper & Hughes.
Randolf W. Katz '78 hasbecome associated with the firmof Petillon, Murray & Dieterich in Los Angeles. He continues to do SEC and franchise work.
Michael A. Robbins '78 has become associatedwith the firm of Pepper, Hamilton andScheetz in its Los Angeles office. He continues to practice laborlaw. He isalsoteaching at the Centerfor IndustrialRelationsat Loyola Marymount University.
The 1980s
Dennis S. Diaz '80, Robert B. Rocklin '83, Joann Zaleskas '83, and Richard D. Wyckoff '83 have become associated with the firm of Musick, Peeler & Garrettwhich has offices in Los Angeles and Newport Beach.
Steven J. D'Onofrio '80 has been appointed coordinator of investigative/legal services for the Recording Industry Association of America. He also continues as associate special counsel.
James R. Dwyer '80 addressed the annual mid-winter meeting of the American Bar Association, tort and insurance practice section, property insurance law committee. The meeting took place in Pebble Beach, California. Dwyer is an associate with the firm of Lord, Bissell & Brookof Chicago, Illinois.
Clifford Gardner '80 and Robert C. Fiedler '81 are partners in the firm of Fiedler and Gardner in San Francisco. Gardner recently argued the case of
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Iwanttoparticipatein:
The Law AlumniAssociation
TheMootCourtHonorsProgram.
Placementseminarsforstudents.
AlumniAdvisoryProgram
Fund-raisingfortheSchool.
Otherinterests:
People vs. Geigersuccessfully before the California Supreme Court.
Michael S. Gendler '80 has become associated with the firm of Irell & Manella in Los Angeles.
MickI.R. Gutierrez '80 is the managing attorney with Southern New Mexico LegalServices. His circuit covers six counties and he isworkingon having the state Supreme Court adopt bilingualsummons.
Monica E. Lebenzon '80 has become associatedwith the law firm of Allen, Matkins, Leck, Gamble & Mallory in its Newport Beachoffice.
Morris L. Thomas '80 has relocated his lawoffice to Central Plaza inthe central Wilshire district of Los Angeles.
Ira D. Barron '81 recently completed a clerkship with Chief Justice Berkeley Lent of the Oregon Supreme Court. He is nowassociatedwith Ginsburg, Feldman & Bress in the District of Columbia where he specializes in com-
.... putercommunications.
Gregory S.Feis '81 has become associated with the Century City firm of Memel, Jacobs, Pierno & Gersh.
Naomi Norwood '81 has joined the firm of Pepper, Hamilton & Scheetz as an associate in the Los Angeles office.
John S. Peterson '81 has become a partner in the firm of Boller, Suttner & Peterson in Arcadia.
Ken Stipanov '81 and Julie Mebane '81 were married on January 21 in San Diego. Julie is anassociate with Gray, Cary, Ames & Frye, specializing in real estate and trademark law. Ken is an associate with Aylward, Kintz, Stiska, Wassenaar & Shannahan, specializing in real estate development law.
Greg S. Bernstein '82 has become associated with the firm of Gibson, Hoffman & Pancione in LosAngeles.
BruceResnikoff '82has joined MCA
Records, Inc. asassociatedirector of business and legal affairs.
Steven E. Sletten '82 has recently become associated with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in its Century City office. During the year following his graduation, he was lawclerkto Judge Edward Rafeedie of the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.
RandallA. Butz '83 hasopened new offices in Beverly Hills, specializing in civillitigation, computer and high technology law.
John Liu '83 has joined the San Franciscofirm ofRopers,Majeski, Kohn, Bentley, Wagnerand Kane, and specializes in litigation.
Roger Raphael '83 has joined Cooley, Godward, Castro, Huddleson & Tatum in San Franciscoas a business attorney.
DonReinke '83 isassociated with the firm of Horwich & Warner in San Francisco.
